Get Your GreenBack Tompkins, along with Cornell Cooperative Extension, has recently been promoting pellet heat and will have a vendor expo Saturday. Get Your GreenBack Tompkins is a community-based initiative that helps people and organizations save energy and money.

Using wood pellets is cheaper than other heating options, supports the regional economy and is considered carbon-neutral, said Karim Beers, coordinator of Get Your GreenBack Tompkins.

This is a good time to switch to pellet heat, Beers said, because a number of state and local incentives can make pellet stoves and boilers more affordable or free. There are also rebates and incentives for energy efficiency.

Pellet heating also can be more affordable than heating with fuel oil or propane in the long run, Beers said. Get Your GreenBack Tompkins did an analysis that compared costs of different fuel sources per BTU (British Thermal Unit). The analysis found that at current prices, an average home in Tompkins County would spend about $1,197 on wood pellets, compared with $1,386 for heating oil and about $2,165 for propane.

Beers said fossil fuel prices also often fluctuate, whereas pellet prices have remained relatively stable.

In April, Tompkins County lawmakers unanimously accepted a plan that will guide the way toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The county plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent before 2050.

A number of scenarios in the county's "Energy Roadmap" suggest shifting from fossil fuel use for heating homes to biomass, which includes wood pellets.

"We really have the forest resources to do this," Beers said. "Tompkins County Energy Roadmap did a study of how much biomass do we have, and they concluded that we have enough to sustainably heat all our homes using biomass."

The Get Your GreenBack Tompkins vendor expo is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, 615 Willow Ave. in Ithaca. Energy contractors and and pellet stove installers will be on hand to answer questions. There will be live equipment demonstrations of pellet stoves, energy auditing equipment and insulation products.